Action Track
Whenever you Flip a card to resolve an Action or when you Flip to determine Initiative in combat, place it into this area. When the total Count of cards in your Action Track is greater than 20, you Bust and can take no further Actions this Round. Setting Up the Action Track At the start of each turn of combat, or at the start of a non-combat challenge, all players start with empty Action Tracks, with no cards in them. In combat, players start each turn by flipping a card to determine Initiative. In non-combat challenges, the Action Track starts out empty. Taking Actions Whenever a character takes an Action, he or she flips a card to determine the result and places that card in his or her Action Track. The Count of the card flipped determines how well the character performed the action, and how quickly. * A card with a higher Count generally means the character has performed more skillfully and is more likely to have completed the task successfully. For instance, flipping a card with a high Count for an attack means the character is more likely to score a hit. * A card with a higher Count also takes more time to perform. A card with a Count of 5 takes about half as long as a card with a Count of 10. Action's Effect After playing a successful action, determine its Effect. Each Action Card details which Abilities count towards the final Effect, and the more Abilities you have, the greater the final Effect. For example, a Touch Attack needs Might ( ) for its Triggers. If one character flips a 5 for a Touch Attack and another flips a 5 for a Touch Attack, both characters would have hit with equal accuracy, taking the same amount of time. But the one who flipped the 5 would have struck harder and dealt more damage, having flipped one card with the Ability, which Melee Attacks count towards the Effect of Damage. Interrupts Interrupts are special actions a player can make use of. Interrupts can be played during other characters' actions. Unlike normal actions, an Interrupt takes so little time that it does not place cards in the Action Track. Who Goes Next? After resolving an Action, all players involved in the challenge or encounter, check to see who has the lowest total Count of cards in his or her Action Track. That player is said to have the Initiative, and may take the next Action. You must have Initiative to take an Action, though you can use an Interrupt under certain circumstances even when you do not have Initiative. Busting A character may take any number of Actions until he or she Busts. No matter how many cards are Flipped or played, characters take Actions normally when their Initiatives in their Action Tracks are at Counts from 0 to 20. But whenever a character takes an Action which sets his or her Count to 21 or higher, that character Busts and cannot take any more Actions that turn. This is most important in combat, because after all players have Busted, players Discard their Action Tracks,Refresh ( ), and Flip for Initiative again. Outside of Combat, characters often must accrue a certain number of a particular kind of Ability before Busting to successfully negotiate the challenge.